Wednesday, March 26, 2008

ONE in four people believe women who have been raped are partly to blame for the crime because of how they dressed, their sexual history or how much they had to drink.

An Irish Examiner/Red C national opinion poll on people’s attitudes to sex crimes found a core section of our society think rape victims are totally or partially responsible for being attacked.

Many of these people who blame some rape victims would be appalled if they fully realized how their attitudes are fuel for all rapists. If a woman doesn't want to be raped then she shouldn't flirt. If a moral woman doesn't want to be raped she shouldn't walk through a deserted area. In these scenarios the rapists and the victim blamers are of one mind.

What victim blamers don't think about is that once rapists start viewing themselves as innocent or no more guilty than the rape victim that is very dangerous for all of us -- including for those who blame certain rape victims. For example, a rapist could have been taught that sexism is wrong and eliminate it from the victim blaming which they accept. For them the men who walk through deserted areas or who drink or who flirt or who have had multiple sex partners are equally responsible for their own rapes as their female counterparts.

1 Comments:

Unfortunately no, males who are raped by other males will not be presumed to have dressed inappropriately or were raped because they had multiple sexual partners. Neither will they be held responsible if the raped man had been consuming alcohol prior to being raped by another male.

Instead the presumption will be the raped man lied or his rape will be viewed as a tragic case. Failing that there is always the belief the raped man was obviously a homosexual who coerced his male rapist into engaging in sexual activity.

The media has succeeded in reinstating these old, old, rape myths which have been re-constituted as commonsense ideologies and not rightfully misogynstic attitudes.

About Abyss2hope

Abyss2hope is centered on date rape, but isn't limited to discussing crimes which can be described this way since the causes and attitudes related to date rape are interconnected with domestic violence and other types of sexual violence.

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